“You don’t really think, you just react,” said Trooper Mohamed Hussein, 31, of Union, at a news conference at the Newark barracks later Tuesday. “We’ll get dressed and do it again.”

The call came just after 5:30 a.m., and the troopers found part of the tractor-trailer, including the cab, in flames and Scherf treading water on his back in the creek near Route 80. The trailer was dangling from an overpass near milepost 117, while the burned-out cab sat in the creek.

“We knew it was going to be a rescue situation,” said Trooper Jason Serrano, 31, of Paterson.

While police don’t know whether the driver was ejected from the cab or got out on his own, his being out of the rig made the rescue possible.

“That was his only chance,” Hussein said. “If he would have stayed inside the cab he would have burned to death.”

Hussein threw in a life preserver, and the troopers dropped their leather utility belts and jumped into water up to their necks.

“We’re trained to take a situation and be the calm head,” he said.

Trooper Luis Cardenas, 29, of Parsippany kept Scherf talking to keep his mind off the injuries, which included burns on 60 to 70 percent of his body and cuts, including a serious one on his right leg.

“We let him know that we were going to get him out,” Cardenas said.

They treaded water and held each other up, with Cardenas holding onto the driver’s shirt, until the Ridgefield Park Fire Department’s rescue bucket pulled Scherf out of the creek about 15 minutes later. The Fire Department also put out the truck fire.

“The whole operation went very well between the Fire Department and the state police,” Ridgefield Park Fire Chief Peter Arciuolo said. “It was teamwork.”

The troopers were examined at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck for exposure to the driver’s blood, a routine precaution, and the creek’s waters.

“We are very grateful for the efforts of the N.J. State Troopers who rescued our driver from Overpeck Creek,” the transportation company said in a statement. “The safety of our employees and the members of communities in which we work is always our top priority.”

Despite water rescue training in the academy, there’s nothing to prepare troopers for situations like these, their superiors said.

“Every day these guys go out, it’s a challenge,” acting Lt. Michael Dulin said. “You hope it’s in them. They went above and beyond. Without hesitation, they reacted.”